1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an original reading apparatus used for facsimile or the like, and more particularly to an apparatus in which original image information to be read as a row of information is dividedly read by a plurality of solid image pick-up elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, compact original reading apparatus comprising a combination of a plurality of solid sensors and a minute lens array have been developed in the field of facsimile.
The outline of the reading mechanism in an original reading apparatus of the described type will be explained with reference to FIG. 1A of the accompanying drawings. In the Figure, reference numeral 1 designates an original having recorded thereon image information to be read, and reference numerals 4.sub.1 and 4.sub.2 designate a plurality of solid image pick-up elements (such as, for example, CCD or photodiode arrays) juxtaposed in primary scanning direction which is the secondary direction of the original, and in the Figure, there is shown an example in which two such elements are juxtaposed. Reference numeral 3.sub.1 designates an optical system for projecting on a reduced scale the image information of the upper left half portion a.sub.1 of the image information along the primary scanning line (reading line) A of the original onto the image pick-up surface of the solid image pick-up element 4.sub.1, and reference numeral 3.sub.2 denotes an optical system for projecting on a reduced scale the image information of the right half portion a.sub.2 onto the image pick-up surface of the other element 4.sub.2. That is, the image information of the original 1 is dividedly read along the primary scanning line A by the elements 4.sub.1 and 4.sub.2. With the original 1 brought into longitudinally downwardly or upwardly moved condition, namely, with the original brought into secondary scanned condition, the image information on the entire surface of the original 1 is read by the elements 4.sub.1 and 4.sub.2.
Thus, on the reception side, the same image information as the original 1 is reproduced on the basis of the reading signals from the elements 4.sub.1 and 4.sub.2.
In such an original reading apparatus, there are generally non-sensitive portions at the opposite ends of each element 4.sub.1, 4.sub.2 and therefore, a skip of reading area exists between the elements 4.sub.1 and 4.sub.2. In a case where the imaging optical systems are reduction systems as shown in FIG. 1A, reading of a row of continuous images on the original is possible in spite of the presence of the skip between the elements, but if the reduction magnification m is small, the length of the optical axis between the surface of the original and the surface of the elements becomes great and this is against the desire to make the apparatus compact and therefore, it is preferable that the system be as approximate to a one-to-one magnification system as possible. As a method of improving this, there is a system whereby a plurality of light-receiving elements are arranged in staggered relationship so that two rows of original lines are read mutually complementarily, whereafter those signals are combined. Along therewith, the optical system also becomes a staggeredly arranged compound-eye system.
FIG. 1B of the accompanying drawings is a schematic view showing an example of the original reading apparatus using a staggeredly arranged lens array. In FIG. 1B, reference numeral 1 designates an original, reference characters 2.sub.1, 2.sub.2, 2.sub.3, . . . 2.sub.n denote reading lines of the original by individual lenses of the lens array, reference characters 3.sub.1, 3.sub.2, 3.sub.3, . . . 3.sub.n designate lenses, and reference characters 4.sub.1, 4.sub.2, 4.sub.3, . . . 4.sub.n denote solid sensors. The lenses 3.sub.1, 3.sub.2, 3.sub.3, . . . 3.sub.n respectively image the portions on the reading lines 2.sub.1, 2.sub.2, 2.sub.3, . . . 2.sub.n of the original 1 onto the solid sensors 4.sub.1, 4.sub.2, 4.sub.3, . . . 4.sub.n and at the same time, the portions lying at mutually complementary positions of two lines of the original 1 are read. The signals so read are added to the signals of the odd-numbered solid sensors 4.sub.1, 4.sub.3, . . . by delaying the signals of the even-numbered solid sensors 4.sub.2, . . . 4.sub.n and are delivered to a recording apparatus as the reading signals of a right line of the original 1. Alternatively, in a case where the recording apparatus is provided with a staggeredly arranged output thermal head, ink jet head, etc. corresponding to the lens array and solid sensors of the original reading apparatus, the read signals are intactly delivered to the recording apparatus, where recording is effected in the order of reading.